When an aircraft travels through clouds, there may be a potential for ice formation on the aircraft. If the ice forms on control surfaces and/or lift surfaces, the aircraft's flight may be jeopardized. Not every cloud, however, presents a dangerous risk of ice formation on an aircraft. Different clouds and different atmospheric conditions may be accompanied by various water droplet size distributions, different ice/liquid ratios, etc. Such water droplet size distributions and ice/liquid ratios may be measured as cloud metrics using various instruments.
Many aircraft are equipped with these instruments to detect and/or measure such cloud metrics. These detected and measured cloud metrics may be used to predict whether a particular cloud can have conditions conducive to ice formation on control or lift surfaces. Such cloud metrics may even be used to predict the location(s) on the aircraft where such ice formation could be expected. One such system for measuring cloud metrics is called an Optical Icing Conditions Detector (OICD). Some OICD systems may direct one or more pulsed lasers into a cloud formation. The OICD system may then measure a light signal reflected by the cloud formation.
Complex signal analyses of these reflected light signals may be performed to determine the various cloud metrics being measured. Such complex signal analyses may require powerful computers and extensive computations. Such powerful systems and extensive computations may result in voluminous and/or heavy system components, high power-consuming electronics, and/or expensive aircraft avionics.